Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Two New Genres

Now that the MEST Basic Rules are out in the wild for public beta, I've been focusing on getting some genre documents generated to help solidify the Advanced Rules. I've already got the Lovecraftian Mythos doc in the works but it needs a few more tweaks especially for the campaign rules. It's essentially still in the Alpha stage.

In the meanwhile I've been working out two new genres that I think will properly stress-test the rules of MEST. The first is something I think will allow players to focus on campaign play using most non-lethal combat. The second genre is something a bit more harsh but also allow focus on campaign play. With these two I'll be able to work out the details of resource-based campaigns in a tighter fashion than with the Lovecraftian Mythos genre because recruiting and supplies will need to be much more tightly managed.

AnabasisSo the first genre will be based upon Sol Yurick's "The Warriors". I've placed the book on order to do some research, and I setting aside some time to watch the film adaption. I liked the film when I was much younger and I think it is evocative of faction-based clashes so popular with tabletop gaming. The emphasis of this genre will be on team building through recruitment, and surviving the battles between gangs which - for whatever reasons - don't seem to have much access to machine-guns or pistols. I think combat will be very interesting; characters will be vying for position using Scrums and Bonus Actions in order to make a difference. I've taken another stab at streamlining the Grapple rules and I hope they keep the game playable.

Aggro84 put a post on Lead Adventure Forum here:http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=38508.30RetropocalypseThis next genre is bit more free-form in that I'm borrowing from many post-apocalypse tropes such as Mad Max, Boy and his Dog, Fallout, Gamma World, and Aftermath; those last two being role-playing games from the days of yore and the first two being iconic dark-future films. Fallout is of course probably the most familiar of the video games set in the genre and has lots of ideas worth tipping the hat to. With this genre I get to prepare the MEST rules to deal with near-future weapons and equipment. The genre will introduce a dystopian society where small bands of scavengers fight for th remaining scraps of civilization. We'll get to play with super-soldiers, disfigured mutants, fealty to non-player factions, and old tech weapons.